and point lance at such an apparition as the sperm whale was not for mortal man. That to attempt it, would be inevitably to be torn into a quickly eternity" (Melville 322). The final anti-transcendental incident occurs when Ahab's passion for vengeance along with his anger infects his crew. Ahab is overflowing with human madness. "If revenge upon the whale were the sole reason for his voyage, Ahab would not be the hero that he is but only a madman of little consequence to literature...and his motives consist of more than the simple joys of the hunter or a spiteful revenge upon an unthinking animal...Not only does Ahab recognize his own motives, but he clearly states them" (Hillway 88). All the immoral and insane anger built up inside him let loose when he sees the white whale. He jumps on the whale's white hump and with all his passion of hate, he stabs the monster. When the attack was over, he becomes mentally ill. Melville says, "He was a raving lunatic; and, though unlimbed of a leg, yet such vital strength yet lurked in his Egyptian chest, and was moreover intensified by his delirium, that his mates were forced to lace him fast, even there, as he sailed, raving in his hammock&
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